Sunday, May 17, 2015

A Trip to Cuba

Sometimes
the box begets the cocktail, and sometimes it’s the other way around. The Old Cuban Cocktail is a modern classic,
and is also one of my wife’s all-time favorite drinks. You wouldn’t have to force one on me either. We discovered this incredible cocktail one
fateful evening while people watching and dining at one of Houston’s swankiest
restaurants, Brasserie 19. My wife has
this incredible ability to score us a prime seat at the bar during peak dining
times at the most popular eateries in town, no reservations needed. She does this with parking spots, too, which
we have dubbed her “parking karma”. So I
guess this is her “restaurant seating with prime people watching at the bar
karma”, henceforth to be known as “barma” for short. Once settled into these choice seats, I will
often chat with the bartender. On this
occasion I asked the bar manager, John, for something with aged rum, and soon
after we were presented with this magnificent cocktail. The Old Cuban is built off of a daiquiri
foundation – white (clear) rum, lime juice and simple syrup. If that’s not what you think of when you hear
“daiquiri”, you have been poisoned by strawberry slush which has frozen your
brain. We’ll revisit the daiquiri on
these pages soon, but right now we have other places to go. If you like a mojito, you’ll realize it’s
also built off of these basics (white rum, lime juice and suger) and has the
addition of mint and club soda. The Old
Cuban is the sophisticated older sibling to the mojito. It replaces the clear rum with aged, dark
amber rum (the one from story above used Mount Gay XO, which remains the best
choice in my opinion, although there are many excellent alternatives). And it replaces the club soda with … wait for
it … champagne! The result is incredibly
alluring, rich and delicious. This is a
drink you could sip all night long. The
Old Cuban was invented in modern times, by Audrey Saunders of the Pegu Club in
New York City, and we are eternally grateful to her.

The Old Cuban

Pairing this
cocktail with a puzzle box was quite simple.I actually have a puzzle box named the
Havana’s #2.I also have one named the
Havana’s #3, and I wish I had # 1 and #4 but I digress.As I haven’t actually figured out how to open
#3 and don’t own the others, viola: Havana’s #2 and the Old Cuban.

The Havana's #2

The Havana’s Puzzle Box Series is the
brainchild of a wood crafter from Raleigh, North Carolina, named Eric
Fuller.He is well known for creating
limited series of beautiful exotic wood puzzles based on other designers and
his own inventions.His local cigar bar,
Havana Deluxe, and the people who work there served as the inspiration for his
series of increasingly more difficult to open cigar boxes.This is of course a relative concept
(difficulty in opening), as box #2 was extremely difficult to open, and box #3
still has me stumped.And I wish I could
blame the Old Cuban’s but that’s sadly not the case.The Havana’s 2 box is beautifully crafted and
very solid, made of quartersawn sapele wood panels.The bottom of the box is veneered with
quilted sapele, which gives it a lovely shimmering quality and the top of the
box is veneered with bleached lacewood for an elegant contrast.

Beautiful quilted sapele veneer

The puzzle and
its designer are very clever, and assume you have opened a few puzzle boxes in
your day, and are going to toy with you because of that.What I mean is that the box starts to open in
a fairly typical way and before too long you are on your way to enjoying a
cigar … when things freeze up.You’re
stuck with a tantalizing teaser view of the semi-opened box.And without giving anything away, I’ll just
say that this puzzle makes you think outside the box in a whole new way.It’s really one of the most clever boxes I
have seen.And with that, I’ll tip my glass
and bid you Salud!

Opened!

Stay
posted for other Eric Fuller boxes in the future, one of which will be paired with
one of his own favorite cocktails, which is a true classic.Cheers.

Time for another Old Cuban!

Old Cuban Recipe:

1 ½ oz Aged Rum (e.g. Mount Gay XO but something at least 7+ yrs)

1 oz simple syrup

¾ oz fresh lime juice

8 mint leaves

2 oz champagne

Muddle the mint and syrup, add the rum and lime juice, shake, strain, and float champagne on top. Garnish with a mint sprig